I coined the term “the White Death” to refer to the rise in death rates among non-elderly whites during this century. It appears to be related to overdoses from prescription painkillers and heroin. Nobody paid much, if any, attention to it until economist Angus Deaton put out a paper on it last fall right after he won the econ (quasi-)Nobel.

“The Black Death” can refer to the >16 percent rise in homicide rates in big cities in 2015 over 2014. Nobody has crunched the numbers by race yet, but most of this appears to be a spike in black-on-black murders. This is likely related in some manner to Black Lives Matter agitation against law and order.